Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0: A Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System PDF
Preview Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0: A Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System
Miguel Angel Rapela Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0 A Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0 Miguel Angel Rapela Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0 A Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System Miguel Angel Rapela Intellectual Property Centre Austral University Buenos Aires, Argentina ISBN 978-3-030-32492-6 ISBN 978-3-030-32493-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32493-3 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland This book is dedicated to my wife Beatriz. Preface The innovation and scientific and technical development of modern plant varieties (which are novel, distinct, uniform, and stable), including the development of ben- eficial microorganisms, the access to and use of plant genetic resources, and the development of biotechnological and biosafety inventions, are regulated at the inter- national, regional, and national levels. This regulation is in the form of many trea- ties, conventions, protocols, international agreements, and other regional and domestic rules. This complex set of rules has resulted in challenges to make global interpretations, due to overlapping, gaps, ambiguities, contradictions, and lack of consistency. The big picture is even more complex, as a series of scientific develop- ments applied in plant breeding in general—especially in gene-editing techniques— have rendered these international regulatory frameworks obsolete. Feeding and providing energy to the world requires doubling agricultural pro- duction between 2010 and 2050. Attaining this goal demands a yearly 2.4% growth rate in the main crops. A series of studies and analyses from different sources point to the fact that the productive growth rate of the main crops is in a critical point at half that value. Indicators show that with the current scenario the world is facing an imminent and growing agricultural crisis in a perfect Malthusian model, in which Boserup’s speculation that past a critical point new agriculture forms evolve and innovation is stimulated might be wrong. The claim in this study is that facts are interrelated. The complex set of regula- tions about the development of modern plant varieties and beneficial microorgan- isms is the cause affecting the access to and use of genetic resources, as well as the research and development in genetics and plant breeding. And the effect is the stand- still in productivity growth, that is, the innovation rate. The attempts of methods, ideas, and proposals to tackle the regulatory hassle have not proven to be effective so far. To a large extent, this has been due to a lack of understanding of the productive models which have led to the development of “Agriculture 4.0” with features never seen before and which requires adopting a vii viii Preface different regulatory paradigm in its broadest concept. The current “Agriculture 3.0” paradigm based on a set of separate regulatory tools does not seem to be the proper way to satisfy the demand in this new scenario. Attempted solutions to these challenges based on game theory have also been unsuccessful. This work claims that this failure was due to resorting to models within a framework of a noncooperative, competitive, and mainly zero-sum game theory, without any consideration for the existing relationships between all players. Opposite to that, the proposal contained here is a solution based on applying a con- vex superadditive cooperative model of relationships among the three sectors or players—for this, it is necessary to design a system of balance and transfer of profits of participants. Based on this, a “Comprehensive Plant Germplasm System” is introduced as a general proposal for all industries driving plant innovation, including heterogeneous plant varieties, microorganisms, biotechnological developments, genetic resources, and biosafety. The system is a proposal of minimum contents for a binding international con- vention which would supersede all conventions, treaties, and other regional or domestic regulations covering native varieties and traditional developments, hetero- geneous plant varieties, plant varieties, microorganisms, biotechnological inven- tions, plant-breeding resources, and biosafety regulation. In short, the basic message of this book is about a comprehensive theory and proposal of intellectual property, biosafety, and business regulation covering any kind of germplasm. The positive externality expected as a result of the application of the system is the recovery of productivity rates in crops and food biodiversity through the massive use of genetic resources and their application to the development of new living mat- ter for feeding, while protecting the interests and rights of all players without excep- tions at the same time. In other words, this is a new paradigm based on the promotion of innovation for “Agriculture 4.0.” Buenos Aires, Argentina Miguel Angel Rapela Acknowledgements This book is the result of dozens of years of experience at the domestic and international levels, both in the private and the public sectors, in connection with plant innovation. I have a huge debt of gratitude toward hundreds of colleagues and experts from universities, research centers, and seed companies all over the world. Aware that I am not mentioning countless institutions, I specifically wish to thank my colleagues at the Intellectual Property Committee and the Working Group on Plant Breeding and Innovation of the International Seed Federation for the opportunity to discuss many of the issues included in this work. I would like to acknowledge Austral University and, particularly, its Intellectual Property Centre. With this contribution, the Centre is resuming the road as an insti- tution generating ideas and projects with domestic and international significance, and I am personally proud of this. I would also like to thank Dr. Andrés Sánchez Herrero and Dr. Gustavo Schotz, both professors at Austral University, Argentina, for their patience in reading the original text, their remarks and suggestions, in addition to the publishing assistance they offered. A special word of gratitude is due to two professors at Universidad del Salvador, Argentina, Dr. Juan Miguel Massot, for his assistance and valuable comments, and Dr. Jorge Viñas, for his inputs about game theory. ix Contents 1 Post-Malthusian Dilemmas in Agriculture 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 The Claim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 The Malthus Versus Boserup Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.3 Agriculture 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2 The Regulatory Tangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1 Regulatory Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2 Protection of Products and Regulatory Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.2.1 Patents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.2.2 Breeder Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.2.3 Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2.2.4 Biosafety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.2.5 Regulatory Alternatives for New Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2.3 Five Examples for Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 3 A Comprehensive Solution for Agriculture 4.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 3.1 The Background of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 3.2 Game Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 3.3 Balance and Transfer Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 4 Plant Germplasm Integrated System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.1 Minimum Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.1.1 Article 1. Purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.1.2 Article 2. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.1.3 Article 3. Conservation, Sustainable Use, and Fair and Equitable Distribution of Benefits Resulting from the Use of Germplasm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4.1.4 Article 4. Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 xi xii Contents 4.1.5 Article 5. Intellectual Protection of Traditional Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 4.1.6 Article 6. Intellectual Protection of Plant Varieties . . . . . . . 88 4.1.7 Article 7. Protection of Heterogeneous Plant Varieties (HPVs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 4.1.8 Article 8. Intellectual Protection of Biotechnological Inventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 4.1.9 Article 9. Intellectual Protection of Microorganisms . . . . . 96 4.1.10 Article 10. Biosafety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 4.1.11 Article 11. Governing Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 4.1.12 Article 12. President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 4.1.13 Article 13. Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4.1.14 A rticle 14. Dispute Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4.1.15 A rticle 15. Amendments to the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 4.1.16 Article 16. Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.1.17 Article 17. Adherence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.1.18 A rticle 18. Entry into Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.1.19 Article 19. Reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.1.20 Article 20. Denunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 4.1.21 Article 21. Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
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